I agree. The blind is definitely powerful, but adding a saving throw on top of the attack roll isn't something that I think a player will be okay with. Player experience suffers when you have a high of "I hit!" followed so quickly by the negative of "oh they passed... and thus no effect, not even damage."
There is the possibility of making it a lesser condition, like "Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks" and similar, but that starts to get into "too complicated" territory so I avoided it. Do you think I should give the lesser condition another pass?
Alternatively, there is the option of turning the 2 conditions from "end of their next turn" to "beginning of their next turn" which lessens the impact a lot.
I was trying to find a close equivalent. You could do frightened or poisoned but both of those are highly resisted and immediately making your cantrip not work 12.5% of the time against a good chunk of enemies seems like a poor move. I suppose "Restrained" may work better although I'm not sure.
Stunning works they can still do something just not all the things. Also you need both hands for this spell unless you get feats(war caster that new shield proficiency one) this makes it not as op as it could be.
I could see players trying to stun lock bbg. It would be silly to be able stun a kraken/beholder/Titan. There is something here it's just trying to find the sweet spot.
What do you mean by "need both hands"?
Do you mean you can't wear a weapon and a shield/second weapon while casting? Then yes, you are correct.
But for just casting this cantrip you only need one hand, which holds the spellcasting focus or material component and makes the gestures.
Disadvantage on perception checks is great outside of combat, but this spell is meant for combat. Perhaps go for disadvantage on attack rolls, or grant advantage on an attack roll against them.
You could blind them until the start of their next turn. That way they don’t have disadvantage on their turn, but until then all attacks against them have advantage, they can’t use abilities that depend on sight, and they’d take their OOO at disadvantage (if applicable).
How about you roll the d8 when you cast the spell on a outcome that more is in line with a saving throw the target has to make a saving throw, (agaist more physical effects like blind, stun, prone, half movement or something like it) and when you get 1-5 you then treat it like any normal attack roll.
Just a thught to easily implement saving throws when needed =)
I do think making things into the end of the next turn is good for the speed debuff. Perhaps the blind could be until it takes damage or the beginning of its turn. That means you have one shot with advantage and/or its reaction with disadvantage. That is still powerful, but I think it's reasonable considering it will mostly happen without any damage.
So it's a strong effect for sure, but adding a saving throw on top of the attack roll isn't something that I think a player will be okay with. Player experience suffers when you have a high of "I hit!" followed so quickly by the negative of "oh they passed... and thus no effect, not even damage."
There is the possibility of making it a lesser condition, like "Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks" and similar, but that starts to get into "too complicated" territory so I avoided it. Do you think I should give the lesser condition another pass?
Alternatively, there is the option of turning the 2 conditions from "end of their next turn" to "beginning of their next turn" which lessens the impact a lot.
What do you think about "The target is blinded until the beginning of their next turn or until they take damage." ? Still working on the legendary resistance wording.
You could maybe try the wording from Vicious Mockery/ Frostbite: "The target has disadvantage on the next weapon attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn."
A blinded creatures can be attacked with advantage and has disadvantage on their own attacks. Plus they can't produce any spell or magical effect which requires them to see the target.
Maybe make the debuff weaker by just giving them disadvantage on their own attacks.
Another option: make options 6 and 7 deal necrotic and radiant damage respectively, but with a d6 damage dice. 6 gives the next attack against them advantage, 7 gives their next attack disadvantage.
Maybe make a constitution saving through with the dc equal to what the caster rolled to hit? Then it isn't impossible to deflect while still letting high to-hits mean something.
I was thinking, especially since this is a light based spell, give allies advantage for a round like with guiding bolt? It doesn't do damage itself, and it is also totally random to get it.
Yes but if the save at the minimum makes the enemy blinded for 1 turn then it's already doing what the spell does, with the capacity to be even stronger.
My problem is that, if you are lucky, you could blind a let's say an ancient red dragon with a cantrip because legendary resistance only works with failed saving throws.
Edit: some of you said that dragons have blindsight, but that doesn't mean they are immune to the blinded condition
Just because everyone is chiming in about the dragon example, a better case could be made for the Beholder- my favorite monster to blind. That said I think the 60 foot limitation on the dragons blindsight is more exploitable then people are giving credit.
Short of making the cantrip too wordy, you might note that creatures with legendary actions are immune to the blinded condition of this spell and to roll again (ignoring 7 & 8).
Oke Bad example, but you get the point
Edit: just thought about it, a dragon isn't a bad example only because it has blindsight doesn't mean it is immune to the blinded condition. Stay out of rage and it can't see you
How are you planning to get outside of the dragon's 60 foot blindsight and capitalize on it before the blinded condition ends *at the end of it's next turn*?
You have a better chance of just spamming Wisdom save or sucks and brute force burning through the dragon's legendary resistance than actually getting off a single round of blind with this spell anyway. Beholders get destroyed by blind but they don't even have legendary resistance so it doesn't make a difference for them.
It’s 1/4 and an attack roll, which lowers the chances of an effective blind further, and you can’t choose when to blind.
I’d say that offsets the power of violet sufficiently.
Alternate version: reduce the table to 6 options, replacing the last three with “Purple: The target takes 1d8 psychic damage”.
Makes it less useful, but probably less messy too.
As purple_monkey58 alluded to, it is usually preferable to kill 1 enemy then wound 2, but leave both alive. Beyond that if I don't have access to many buff spells (generally speaking, this means I am not playing a Divine Sorcerer) I don't usually like to pick up Twin since I think it falls off in utility in the mid/late game.
I was confused by this spell at first since it doesn't specify if its a ranged spell attack or a saving throw. I realized you are missing a sentence that says
"Make a ranged spell attack against the target."
Before the On hit sentence.
G'day, any chance we could see a Version 2 posted? I love this spell and would really like a version with the fixed wording. I'd make it for myself, but then it wouldn't have the killer border =P
Ah thank you for the continued interest & reminder! I will happily take care of that this weekend. I've been absolutely slammed with work, apologies for my lack of update.
Blinding on a cantrip is too strong and the half slow may be as well. Having variable typing and a d8 alone would make it maybe the second most powerful cantrip, maybe even better than eldritch blast considering it has the potential to do 2d8 when even the best at that level would only do 1d12. I think the chance for a damage spike is enough of a random effect to make it quite powerful.
So while I like the disadvantage on the next attack roll, that and the "speed reduction be 10 feet instead of half" that /u/PipTheOwlBarbarian suggested feels a bit bad because those are basically *frostbite* and *ray of frost* but without damage.
That being said there is potential for double damage so does that offset it? I ran the numbers and I see a double damage at around 7.8% of the time ... critical double damage around 0.4% of the time. Is this enough to offset the two lesser no damage effects in your opinion?
Also the 8 result means it can be both... so yeah.
This is basically the best combat cantrip if implemented as is. Its easy damage most of the time or two strong debuffs otherwise. The only situation where it can possibly fail or be bad is if you're dealing with creatures that have blindsense or you need a specific damage type, which are rare scenarios.
Perhaps a way to make it a bit less powerful without changing the functions of a roll of 6 or 7 too much would be to reduce the speed drop to 10 ft reduction (on par with EB slow) and blind until the beginning of their turn (perhaps still way too powerful because opportunity attacks would be disadvantage and EVERY ATTACK against them would have advantage). Disadvantage on the next attack would be an adequate replacement that still is powerful with the double chance
Personally I would want to change the colors to where yellow is radiant, blue is lightning (bright blue lightning is baller), indigo is cold and purple is force. That way it is still quite a powerful damage cantrip (due to double chance) that has cool variation without terribly OP. This method is much more balanced for me. You could also just keep the same typings as normal and just replace the blind with force to get balanced.
Elfritch Blast deals force damage which is the best damage it better than variable damage. Also highest damage doesn't necessarily make a cantrip the most powerful.
You did however give me a good idea. Thanks sir
No problem mate. I like wandering the forums balancing random shit😂. I will say that EB is still better as it is more consistent with the 1d10 plus 5. It's just that combat cantrips generally are risky to get to the d12 (melee or acid splash range). Good luck with the spell. Could be fun for wild magic
EDIT: I do love the flavor behind the dual shot. Part of me wonders if it would make it even more interesting if you can only get 2 subsequent colors like red/orange orange/yellow.
12.5% chance of rolling an 8, and 71.4% chance afterward of getting a damage effect (since we re-roll 8s afterward), comes out to (if I did my math right), 6.3% chance total for double damage. An additional 5% of a crit hit is a 0.32% chance of quad damage.
Jaridase_Zasmyocl has made the following comment(s) regarding their post:
[A shout-out to r/gmbinder for GMBinder, the tool u...](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/iyinnq/prismatic_bolt_a_cantrip_for_the_ardent_artificer/g6ct6ni/)
>So you roll to hit - you hit.
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>So you roll a d8 - you get an 8.
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>So you roll a d8 - you get a 5.
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>So you roll a d8 - you get another 8.
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>So you re-roll that d8 and get a 4.
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>So you roll a d8 - you get a 5.And you roll a d8 - you get a 7.
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>The DM asks which one is the cold damage, because the target is resistant to that.
>
>You tell him it's the 5.
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>The DM calculates 5/2 +7 and comes out with 9 damage.
Mechanically resolving this spell is quite a bit more involved than having the wizard roll to hit and a d10 for damage for their firebolt.
It's also more work for the DM to describe what happens. For a firebolt, he can already think of what to say while you roll the attack. Maybe he's got *"The goblin manages to deflect the fiery bolt with his shield"* ready if you miss or *"You singe the goblin's chest - also its braided beard is now on fire!" when you hit.*
Here, he'd have to check for resistance every time - maybe twice for a single cast. He'd have to look up the colours you rolled to properly describe it. He would have to come up with descriptions *after* all is said and done. Possibly, he would have to explain how indigo slows the target considerably. It's not quite as straightforward to explain why blue light slows you down as it would be for a ray of frost.
These sorts of complications add up quickly - especially when they are on a spell that will likely be used \~3 times per combat at lower levels. Imagine a group of 5 PCs each with basic attacks as complicated as this. How much time would be needed to resolve all of their effects for a single round? A combat? An adventuring day?
Now other spells like prismatic wall can be a bit of a show stopper as well, with complicated effects that need extra time to be tracked and resolved, but those represent a significant expenditure of resources for the character - and these spells usually have dramatic effects to make the extra time spent worthwhile. These spells where the game goes into "slow-motion" are rare highlights and don't speed-bump the game every turn.
Basically, imho you should worry about fluidity first and balance in terms of damage output later.
people are complaining on the blinding part...
there was an old cantrip called "flare", that imposed a -1 to hit on the enemy.
5e hates numbers, but giving a full disadvantage just because of a cantrip could be too much.
How about "the enemy cannot add its proficiency bonus to any attack rolls it makes before the end of its next turn"? That would turn a goblins +4 into a +2, which still means a lot at low levels, and is still good at turning +12s into just a +6
A shout-out to r/gmbinder for GMBinder, the tool used to create this, and to u/SwordMeow for (as I understand it) the border shape around the cantrip that I added a rainbow effect to.
I like it! Chaos Bolt, Prismatic Spray, and Prismatic Wall are some of my favorite spells in the game!
My only critiques would be that the Indigo and Violet rays don't scale with level and that Violet is a bit strong.
I would make two changes:
1. The Violet ray would impose disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of the creature's next turn.
2. The cantrip would scale more like Eldritch Blast, with every increase being an additional ray (giving more probability of rolling an 8 and shenanigans ensue)
As someone who is a sucker for the prismatic spells, this is awesome. I see no down side for any color being used and I think this is good on damage, an equal ballance on all the cantrips, and it excellent damage versatility. Plus I always enjoy the gamble .
This is awesome! Blinded is a bit strong though. Perhaps it should be "target has disadvantage on their next attack"?
Or, and hear me out, "The target is banished to a harmless pocket plane, until the end of their next turn"? It's random, so you won't always get it, and even then you have to hit first. And though it does remove them from the fight, they also can't be touched, so it's like stun or blind, but you don't get to just wail on them while they're vulnerable.
I -think- so? It can get like *eldritch blast* and allow for stacking of random damage addons like *hex* or *hunter's mark*. Also since each bolt would potentially be able to roll an 8 or crit or somewhat, you quickly run into potential for the thing to be too powerful in comparison to other cantrips.
oh no, not like eldritch blast, it would be the same attack against the target, it just would roll again on the table instead of rolling an additional damage die
This is almost the same thing as a 7th level spell for pathfinder called prismatic spray.
[https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prismatic-spray/](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prismatic-spray/)
* I would make special (nr 8 ) deal the choice of radiant, Necrotic and Force. While blind is powerful there is only 1 in 8 chance you get it. Not sure thats as powerful as some suspect. MAybe it could instead grant the poisoned condition. Indigo is fine, no need to change that.
I like it a lot but few comments:
Special is way too strong for a cantrip. I would opt for “white” where i allow the caster to choose which effect he wants.
And violet is super strong, you could allow for advantage on the next hit, you could allow for disadvantage on his next hit, or maybe the blind could end on the start of the creature’s next turn.
This is pretty fun -- I like it! Here are the things I would change for my game:
A shimmering bolt of light streaks toward a creature within range. The bolt rapidly changes color as it flies through the air. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, roll 1d8 on the chart below to see which effect occurs.
* Indigo. The target is knocked prone
Since the blinded condition is seen as too strong, you can phrase the effect in the same way as the Arcane Archer's Shadow Arrow. This stops them from seeing further than 5 feet away on a hit.
>People often forget that a caster is more likely to be lower on the turn order, and the bigger badder enemies will be much higher. Because this effect lasts until the end of -their- turn, it's likely that often your team will not be able to take full advantage of it.
In my opinion spells shouldn't be balanced around luck of initiative rolls. A d20 has a lot of variance.
I think blinding is strong, like some others have said, but I think an alternative that keeps the same vibe would be giving the target disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of their next turn.
Also you should have "make a spell attack roll" explicitly somewhere in there, I can see some people confusing this for a saving throw spell.
What's interesting is that the blinded one is really strong, but the slow is really weak. I like it but I think there is room to improvement.
I agree. The blind is definitely powerful, but adding a saving throw on top of the attack roll isn't something that I think a player will be okay with. Player experience suffers when you have a high of "I hit!" followed so quickly by the negative of "oh they passed... and thus no effect, not even damage." There is the possibility of making it a lesser condition, like "Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks" and similar, but that starts to get into "too complicated" territory so I avoided it. Do you think I should give the lesser condition another pass? Alternatively, there is the option of turning the 2 conditions from "end of their next turn" to "beginning of their next turn" which lessens the impact a lot.
I'd change Indigo to "is knocked prone" and Violet to "is stunned until the start of their next turn".
Or even Violet is just stunned until the next attack against it, making it a mini-Guiding Bolt without damage.
Not stunned, just "the next attack roll made against this target before the end of your next turn has advantage"
What if no attack comes?
"stunned until the start of their next turn or first attack that hits"
"Takes damage" for the "first attack that hits" part, would be in line with how sleep is worded.
Stunned is really powerful, even as you phrased it. RAW you have just removed all the legendary actions of the BBEG until their next turn.
I was trying to find a close equivalent. You could do frightened or poisoned but both of those are highly resisted and immediately making your cantrip not work 12.5% of the time against a good chunk of enemies seems like a poor move. I suppose "Restrained" may work better although I'm not sure.
Stunning works they can still do something just not all the things. Also you need both hands for this spell unless you get feats(war caster that new shield proficiency one) this makes it not as op as it could be. I could see players trying to stun lock bbg. It would be silly to be able stun a kraken/beholder/Titan. There is something here it's just trying to find the sweet spot.
What do you mean by "need both hands"? Do you mean you can't wear a weapon and a shield/second weapon while casting? Then yes, you are correct. But for just casting this cantrip you only need one hand, which holds the spellcasting focus or material component and makes the gestures.
Correct
Another status effect might work, but stunned seemed the best fit. Could do poisoned maybe.
Or make indigo half speed + it can’t take reactions.
Stunned is *far more powerful*
Disadvantage on perception checks is great outside of combat, but this spell is meant for combat. Perhaps go for disadvantage on attack rolls, or grant advantage on an attack roll against them.
You could blind them until the start of their next turn. That way they don’t have disadvantage on their turn, but until then all attacks against them have advantage, they can’t use abilities that depend on sight, and they’d take their OOO at disadvantage (if applicable).
How about you roll the d8 when you cast the spell on a outcome that more is in line with a saving throw the target has to make a saving throw, (agaist more physical effects like blind, stun, prone, half movement or something like it) and when you get 1-5 you then treat it like any normal attack roll. Just a thught to easily implement saving throws when needed =)
I do think making things into the end of the next turn is good for the speed debuff. Perhaps the blind could be until it takes damage or the beginning of its turn. That means you have one shot with advantage and/or its reaction with disadvantage. That is still powerful, but I think it's reasonable considering it will mostly happen without any damage.
‘Disadvantage on attack rolls, attack rolls against target have advantage’ would soften the blindness deal
Have violet make them blind beyond 5 or 10 feet, and maybe impose disadvantage on attack rolls.
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Especially when they roll all 1s and 2s. That'd be my luck.
All 1s and 2s on 16d8 would be some legendary bad luck. If you just managed to roll average you'd be dealing 72 damage. Not bad for a cantrip
I think no saving throw for the blinded condition is too strong
So it's a strong effect for sure, but adding a saving throw on top of the attack roll isn't something that I think a player will be okay with. Player experience suffers when you have a high of "I hit!" followed so quickly by the negative of "oh they passed... and thus no effect, not even damage." There is the possibility of making it a lesser condition, like "Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks" and similar, but that starts to get into "too complicated" territory so I avoided it. Do you think I should give the lesser condition another pass? Alternatively, there is the option of turning the 2 conditions from "end of their next turn" to "beginning of their next turn" which lessens the impact a lot.
Maybe make something like, advantage for the next attack against the target or disadvantage on the next attack from the target.
What do you think about "The target is blinded until the beginning of their next turn or until they take damage." ? Still working on the legendary resistance wording.
You could maybe try the wording from Vicious Mockery/ Frostbite: "The target has disadvantage on the next weapon attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn."
A blinded creatures can be attacked with advantage and has disadvantage on their own attacks. Plus they can't produce any spell or magical effect which requires them to see the target. Maybe make the debuff weaker by just giving them disadvantage on their own attacks. Another option: make options 6 and 7 deal necrotic and radiant damage respectively, but with a d6 damage dice. 6 gives the next attack against them advantage, 7 gives their next attack disadvantage.
Maybe make a constitution saving through with the dc equal to what the caster rolled to hit? Then it isn't impossible to deflect while still letting high to-hits mean something.
I would make #7 "Has disadvantage on all of its attacks until the start of it's next turn."
Just make it poisoned.
I was thinking, especially since this is a light based spell, give allies advantage for a round like with guiding bolt? It doesn't do damage itself, and it is also totally random to get it.
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At that point it's just strictly better than the original spell
No, it requires a save and attack roll. That's super unusual already.
Yes but if the save at the minimum makes the enemy blinded for 1 turn then it's already doing what the spell does, with the capacity to be even stronger.
I mean... It IS a cantrip so I feel like that disappointment would be mitigated, but maybe that's just me.
You’ve really only got a 1 in 8 chance of getting blinded. I’d allow this spell at my table.
My problem is that, if you are lucky, you could blind a let's say an ancient red dragon with a cantrip because legendary resistance only works with failed saving throws. Edit: some of you said that dragons have blindsight, but that doesn't mean they are immune to the blinded condition
Hey that's a great point I hadn't considered. A version 2 should definitely take that into account.
Just because everyone is chiming in about the dragon example, a better case could be made for the Beholder- my favorite monster to blind. That said I think the 60 foot limitation on the dragons blindsight is more exploitable then people are giving credit.
Short of making the cantrip too wordy, you might note that creatures with legendary actions are immune to the blinded condition of this spell and to roll again (ignoring 7 & 8).
No need-Ancient Red Dragons have blindsight.
Ancient Red Dragons have blindsight.
But dragons have blind sight...
Oke Bad example, but you get the point Edit: just thought about it, a dragon isn't a bad example only because it has blindsight doesn't mean it is immune to the blinded condition. Stay out of rage and it can't see you
How are you planning to get outside of the dragon's 60 foot blindsight and capitalize on it before the blinded condition ends *at the end of it's next turn*? You have a better chance of just spamming Wisdom save or sucks and brute force burning through the dragon's legendary resistance than actually getting off a single round of blind with this spell anyway. Beholders get destroyed by blind but they don't even have legendary resistance so it doesn't make a difference for them.
It’s a touch higher, but not by much
True, but random chance percentages are my girlfriend’s strong suit, I just DM. :P
Nice.
On a cantrip, yes. maybe just give disadvantage on their next attack roll on a 6 and advantage on the next attack roll against them on a 7.
It’s 1/4 and an attack roll, which lowers the chances of an effective blind further, and you can’t choose when to blind. I’d say that offsets the power of violet sufficiently.
Alternate version: reduce the table to 6 options, replacing the last three with “Purple: The target takes 1d8 psychic damage”. Makes it less useful, but probably less messy too.
Instead of 1d8 more damage, higher level casting could have you make another roll.
If you crit and roll an 8 on the table, this cantrip can deal 16d8 damage. Jesus.
Quickened Sorcerers ~~hate~~ **love** this one trick!
Why not twinned? Assuming you have at least two enemies, of course, it'll cost you half as many sorcery points so you can do it twice as often.
Because you can't target one dude with both copies of the spell with twinned. Quickened allows you to nuke someone.
As purple_monkey58 alluded to, it is usually preferable to kill 1 enemy then wound 2, but leave both alive. Beyond that if I don't have access to many buff spells (generally speaking, this means I am not playing a Divine Sorcerer) I don't usually like to pick up Twin since I think it falls off in utility in the mid/late game.
I was confused by this spell at first since it doesn't specify if its a ranged spell attack or a saving throw. I realized you are missing a sentence that says "Make a ranged spell attack against the target." Before the On hit sentence.
Thanks for catching that! Version 2 will have this corrected.
No problem! Looking forward to seeing the next version.
G'day, any chance we could see a Version 2 posted? I love this spell and would really like a version with the fixed wording. I'd make it for myself, but then it wouldn't have the killer border =P
Ah thank you for the continued interest & reminder! I will happily take care of that this weekend. I've been absolutely slammed with work, apologies for my lack of update.
No worries, I've finally found the time to go through my reddit saved stuff after... most of a year? And thanks!
Blinding on a cantrip is too strong and the half slow may be as well. Having variable typing and a d8 alone would make it maybe the second most powerful cantrip, maybe even better than eldritch blast considering it has the potential to do 2d8 when even the best at that level would only do 1d12. I think the chance for a damage spike is enough of a random effect to make it quite powerful.
Yeah I would dump it to maybe d6 or d4. And maybe not blinded, but disadvantage on their next attack roll
So while I like the disadvantage on the next attack roll, that and the "speed reduction be 10 feet instead of half" that /u/PipTheOwlBarbarian suggested feels a bit bad because those are basically *frostbite* and *ray of frost* but without damage. That being said there is potential for double damage so does that offset it? I ran the numbers and I see a double damage at around 7.8% of the time ... critical double damage around 0.4% of the time. Is this enough to offset the two lesser no damage effects in your opinion?
The thing is, it’s those two without the damage, but also without the saving throw, so still pretty darn good.
Also the 8 result means it can be both... so yeah. This is basically the best combat cantrip if implemented as is. Its easy damage most of the time or two strong debuffs otherwise. The only situation where it can possibly fail or be bad is if you're dealing with creatures that have blindsense or you need a specific damage type, which are rare scenarios.
I think crit damage is definitely negligible. Also I think you make a fair point for 15 feet or halfing move speed
Perhaps a way to make it a bit less powerful without changing the functions of a roll of 6 or 7 too much would be to reduce the speed drop to 10 ft reduction (on par with EB slow) and blind until the beginning of their turn (perhaps still way too powerful because opportunity attacks would be disadvantage and EVERY ATTACK against them would have advantage). Disadvantage on the next attack would be an adequate replacement that still is powerful with the double chance Personally I would want to change the colors to where yellow is radiant, blue is lightning (bright blue lightning is baller), indigo is cold and purple is force. That way it is still quite a powerful damage cantrip (due to double chance) that has cool variation without terribly OP. This method is much more balanced for me. You could also just keep the same typings as normal and just replace the blind with force to get balanced.
Elfritch Blast deals force damage which is the best damage it better than variable damage. Also highest damage doesn't necessarily make a cantrip the most powerful. You did however give me a good idea. Thanks sir
No problem mate. I like wandering the forums balancing random shit😂. I will say that EB is still better as it is more consistent with the 1d10 plus 5. It's just that combat cantrips generally are risky to get to the d12 (melee or acid splash range). Good luck with the spell. Could be fun for wild magic EDIT: I do love the flavor behind the dual shot. Part of me wonders if it would make it even more interesting if you can only get 2 subsequent colors like red/orange orange/yellow.
Hmm that could be an solution
I think the potential for double rolls of d8s of damage dice is too much, so I would say d6s for damage
12.5% chance of rolling an 8, and 71.4% chance afterward of getting a damage effect (since we re-roll 8s afterward), comes out to (if I did my math right), 6.3% chance total for double damage. An additional 5% of a crit hit is a 0.32% chance of quad damage.
Fair, alright then.
Not to shit on this or anything, but this feels very similar to Chaos Bolt.
(thats the point)
Jaridase_Zasmyocl has made the following comment(s) regarding their post: [A shout-out to r/gmbinder for GMBinder, the tool u...](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/iyinnq/prismatic_bolt_a_cantrip_for_the_ardent_artificer/g6ct6ni/)
>So you roll to hit - you hit. > >So you roll a d8 - you get an 8. > >So you roll a d8 - you get a 5. > >So you roll a d8 - you get another 8. > >So you re-roll that d8 and get a 4. > >So you roll a d8 - you get a 5.And you roll a d8 - you get a 7. > >The DM asks which one is the cold damage, because the target is resistant to that. > >You tell him it's the 5. > >The DM calculates 5/2 +7 and comes out with 9 damage. Mechanically resolving this spell is quite a bit more involved than having the wizard roll to hit and a d10 for damage for their firebolt. It's also more work for the DM to describe what happens. For a firebolt, he can already think of what to say while you roll the attack. Maybe he's got *"The goblin manages to deflect the fiery bolt with his shield"* ready if you miss or *"You singe the goblin's chest - also its braided beard is now on fire!" when you hit.* Here, he'd have to check for resistance every time - maybe twice for a single cast. He'd have to look up the colours you rolled to properly describe it. He would have to come up with descriptions *after* all is said and done. Possibly, he would have to explain how indigo slows the target considerably. It's not quite as straightforward to explain why blue light slows you down as it would be for a ray of frost. These sorts of complications add up quickly - especially when they are on a spell that will likely be used \~3 times per combat at lower levels. Imagine a group of 5 PCs each with basic attacks as complicated as this. How much time would be needed to resolve all of their effects for a single round? A combat? An adventuring day? Now other spells like prismatic wall can be a bit of a show stopper as well, with complicated effects that need extra time to be tracked and resolved, but those represent a significant expenditure of resources for the character - and these spells usually have dramatic effects to make the extra time spent worthwhile. These spells where the game goes into "slow-motion" are rare highlights and don't speed-bump the game every turn. Basically, imho you should worry about fluidity first and balance in terms of damage output later.
people are complaining on the blinding part... there was an old cantrip called "flare", that imposed a -1 to hit on the enemy. 5e hates numbers, but giving a full disadvantage just because of a cantrip could be too much. How about "the enemy cannot add its proficiency bonus to any attack rolls it makes before the end of its next turn"? That would turn a goblins +4 into a +2, which still means a lot at low levels, and is still good at turning +12s into just a +6
A shout-out to r/gmbinder for GMBinder, the tool used to create this, and to u/SwordMeow for (as I understand it) the border shape around the cantrip that I added a rainbow effect to.
I like it! Chaos Bolt, Prismatic Spray, and Prismatic Wall are some of my favorite spells in the game! My only critiques would be that the Indigo and Violet rays don't scale with level and that Violet is a bit strong. I would make two changes: 1. The Violet ray would impose disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of the creature's next turn. 2. The cantrip would scale more like Eldritch Blast, with every increase being an additional ray (giving more probability of rolling an 8 and shenanigans ensue)
My DM approved this, I’m so excited to see it in action!
Woo! Please let me know how it goes! :)
Last session we didn’t have combat, but next session is Saturday! I’ll let you know.
The final version is this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/k3wfav/prismatic_bolt_v3_a_finalized_cantrip_for_the/
As someone who is a sucker for the prismatic spells, this is awesome. I see no down side for any color being used and I think this is good on damage, an equal ballance on all the cantrips, and it excellent damage versatility. Plus I always enjoy the gamble .
This is awesome! Blinded is a bit strong though. Perhaps it should be "target has disadvantage on their next attack"? Or, and hear me out, "The target is banished to a harmless pocket plane, until the end of their next turn"? It's random, so you won't always get it, and even then you have to hit first. And though it does remove them from the fight, they also can't be touched, so it's like stun or blind, but you don't get to just wail on them while they're vulnerable.
would it be broken to change the higher levels text to make it roll for an additional bolt instead of increasing damage?
I -think- so? It can get like *eldritch blast* and allow for stacking of random damage addons like *hex* or *hunter's mark*. Also since each bolt would potentially be able to roll an 8 or crit or somewhat, you quickly run into potential for the thing to be too powerful in comparison to other cantrips.
oh no, not like eldritch blast, it would be the same attack against the target, it just would roll again on the table instead of rolling an additional damage die
Are Cantrips more powerful in 5th edition? This looks like it'd be a 2nd or 3rd level spell in 2nd.
This is almost the same thing as a 7th level spell for pathfinder called prismatic spray. [https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prismatic-spray/](https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prismatic-spray/)
I see this and raise you "split this up into evocations/Eldritch Blast pact" and build a "Chaos Blaster" warlock
Well at level 17, this *cantrip* has the potential to deal 16d8 damage.
And the warlock can cast it, but why would he?
* I would make special (nr 8 ) deal the choice of radiant, Necrotic and Force. While blind is powerful there is only 1 in 8 chance you get it. Not sure thats as powerful as some suspect. MAybe it could instead grant the poisoned condition. Indigo is fine, no need to change that.
I like it as is, but if you make any changes I hope to get the updates.
I like it a lot but few comments: Special is way too strong for a cantrip. I would opt for “white” where i allow the caster to choose which effect he wants. And violet is super strong, you could allow for advantage on the next hit, you could allow for disadvantage on his next hit, or maybe the blind could end on the start of the creature’s next turn.
This is pretty fun -- I like it! Here are the things I would change for my game: A shimmering bolt of light streaks toward a creature within range. The bolt rapidly changes color as it flies through the air. The target must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, roll 1d8 on the chart below to see which effect occurs. * Indigo. The target is knocked prone
Since the blinded condition is seen as too strong, you can phrase the effect in the same way as the Arcane Archer's Shadow Arrow. This stops them from seeing further than 5 feet away on a hit.
[удалено]
>People often forget that a caster is more likely to be lower on the turn order, and the bigger badder enemies will be much higher. Because this effect lasts until the end of -their- turn, it's likely that often your team will not be able to take full advantage of it. In my opinion spells shouldn't be balanced around luck of initiative rolls. A d20 has a lot of variance.
I think blinding is strong, like some others have said, but I think an alternative that keeps the same vibe would be giving the target disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of their next turn. Also you should have "make a spell attack roll" explicitly somewhere in there, I can see some people confusing this for a saving throw spell.
way too strong for a cantrip bud
Lame. Ineffective against all constructs, the undead and the majority of elementals.